Apparatus for producing toric lenses.



W. HOLLANDS.

- APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING TORIC LENSES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-17,1913.

Patented Apr. 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. HOLLANDS.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING TORIC LENSES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- I 7. I913.

Patented Apr. 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Isl/J c gs? Witnesses.

I m e'nIo I".

- IIoIIandS,

Mi At tys.

ALTER HOLLANIDS, 0h LONDON, ENGLAND.

' m 1:; 'rUs ron rnonucme- Tonic LENSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. to, tart.

Application filed September P331913. Serial Ito. 790,228.

proved apparatus for producing toric enses-c'. e. lenses having on one side at least a surface of double curvatureand which lenses are largely used for spectacles and the like.

The production of toric lenses by grinding and polishing them by hand is a comparatively slow and tedious process requiring the exercise of fairly considerable skill on the part of the workman to insure exactitude in the production of the proper curvatures on the lens. The natural result of this is that lenses so produced are comparatively expensive and'the main object of my invention is to enable such lenses to be produced comparatively very cheaply.

Attempts to this end have been made by grinding the lenses in a machine, the lenses,

which were fixed on the periphery of a ro-:

tating disk, being subjected to a double grinding action viz. a grinding action in.

the direction of rotation of the disk and a grinding action in directions transverse to the direction of rotation of the disk, the

grindin action in the transverse direction being e ected by a rapidly rotating grinding tool which Was simultaneously made to swing across the plane of the rotating disk and the grinding surface of which rotating 'tool was spherical.

Although the aforesaid rotating and swinging grinding tool has been made to rock on a center whic'htheoretically ought to result in the production of lenses whose the earner to permit the latter to be swung in an arc of a circle across the path of movement of the lens, and it also comprises the carrier that movement of the tool across the path of movement of the lens on the lens carrier is varied for successive rotations of the lens carrier.

I have found as the result of experiments that the best results are attained if the grinding properly so called be effected with the grinding tool held firmly and unyield-. mgly to its work but when the polishing and finishing stages are reached the polishing or finishing material should press with a more or less soft and yielding pressure and to this end my invention comprehends means whereby when the initial grinding has been efi'ected the grinding tool may be made to press with a yielding pressure.

My invention further also comprehends certain details of construction to be referred to hereinafter.

A constructional form of my invention, given merely by way of example, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front'elevation, and

hiFig. 2 a side elevation of the complete mac ne Fig. 3 is a view from the back of one form of lens carrying disk, parts being broken away to enable others to be clearly seen,

Fig. 4 shows details thereof in side elevae tion Flg. 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the grinding tool and its supporting parts, and a Figs. 6, 7 and 8 area plan and cross section on an enlarged, scale of one of the lenses.

In the example illustrated A, A" are standards connected by a plate or web B and having flanges or feet C, the whole forming the framing on which the working parts are carried, the flanges or feet C being adapted to be fixed down on a bench or table as may be desirable.

Adapted to slide in vertical grooves in the rec ' bracketsDKD arefixed, the said brackets having trunnion ins or thelike d, d on which a saddle standards A, A'--are slides 11D to which J is. swin in Centrally between said pins edon a shaft 7 is alens carrying disk F which'ma be a solid disk but which in the example i lustrated is made to be expansible to enable its efl'ectivediameter to be varied,

and for this purpose comprises a; plate f formed with a boss f and with radial grooves f in which slide-pieces f slidably fit, the outer ends of which slide-pieces are formed with properly shaped heads on which the lensblanks L are to be attachedin the usual manner in which lenses are temporarily se cured and the inner ends of which slidepieces are made taper and all these engaged aga nst a correspondingly tapered edge,

formed on the periphery of a circular plat f secured to the plate 7 bylscrews 1'' an I 'having a sleeve like extension f 'which fits' on the boss f to thereby" hold the plate 7 and its tapered edge central: of the plate 7. The slide-pieces are secured to the plate, f by. screws 1 which are passed through "slots f in the.v rooves f to permit radial ad-' justment. and it will be seen that by loosening'the screws f and tightening up the screws f the slide-pieces) may be wedged r'adiallyoutwardor they may be otherwise adjusted and thereafter thescrews f and f tightened up.- By this means the efi'ective diameter of the-disk F may be increased or decreased so that a correspondingly .difi'erent curvature will have been produced on the lens when thelatter has been ground. Centrall below the disk F and carried by the saddle E is a table H on which the grind:

ing-tool J is removably fixed. The table has a spindle h which slidably passes through a. screwed tubejh' the up er end of which has a flange It between w ich' and a-f'fla'ngeor idle'h and which may be removed for the nuts It", h, and rotating .the screwed tu e h the vertlcal position of the table and conse collarh on the spindle h I place a distance piece h which is made to straddle the spinpu'rpo'se to befdescribed. By loosenin set quentlv'of the. grinding tool maybe changed and'this is, the means whereby,;in the exam'ple illustrated of my invention, the 'rough tool J relatively tothe lenses L onthe disk F is-tofbe eifected, After this the set nuts are again tightened up'.. v

' In order to absolutely prevent the while permittin fix to. thesaddle E and whic or approximate adjustment ofthe grinding est rotary movement ofthe grinding tool-J vertical-movement as de scribedI provi e a guide iecek. which I enters a groove in the edge of the table H.

The shaft f has mounted on it a belt pulley e or-equlvalent whereby rotary motion a is to be imparted to the disk 'F and'on' said 3 ly mounted.- and mount shaft I mounta spur wheel a gearing with which is a spur wheel e on' a vertlca spmdle e to the lower-end of which a crank e is fixed which crank is pivotally connected by. a rod me the rear of the saddle E about as shown so that as the disk F is rotated the grindin tool J will be. rocked across the plane-o said disk in its movement describan arc of a circle having the axis of the pins d, d as its center.

ing

5 As has already been stated the grinding tool-J does not rotateand in starting the machine said toolmay consist of a flat plate of metal or other suitable. material to which ing tool may be fed up tothe-work i. e. the

lenses by feedscrews m,- m the turnin of which in one direction will raise the p ates or slides D, D and with them the brackets .D trunnions d, d',-saddle E, table H and grinding tool J and to insure that both sides shall be raised equally I may gear the screws m, m together by bevel or spur wheels so that the rotation of a central disk m will r'aiseor lower both slides D, D to an equal extent, it being understood that the connections for the rod 6 are such as to admit of such adjustment.

When the grinding has been effected and I the lenses are to be polished it is advantageous; as already-pointed outthat the grinding tool J press with acushioned or yieldinfimressure and to attain this I provide a 001 spring h one end of which acts agamst a shoulder in the screwed tube and the other Q against a shoulder on the'spindle h of the' table H and h the table held up 'with a yielding pressure the pressure gyremoving the distance piece and grinding tool J will be depending upon the force of the spring It.

Inasmuch as the rocking of the nding tool,across the rotating lenses is e acted by gearing such as e and e it is of some importance -.to insure that thepath of move-- ment of the tool J across the path of movement. of the lenses is varied for successive rotations of the lenses otherwise the grinding may not be effected quite regularly over all the lenses (although this 1181! is minimized if not eliminated altogether by using a tool having 'the curvature of the lenses) and to this end I may make the gear wheels e, e with numbers of teeth (for example 37 and 15 respectively) which will require a large number of revolutions of said wheels before the teeth again engage as at the start and consequently the lenses will. make a correspondingly large number of rotations befglre the grlnding tool crosses in the same pat a The coarse adjustment of the grinding .tool is effected as described by adjusting the tube k in the saddle E and the fine adjustment by rotating the disk or. wheel m But in order to adapt the machine for use with a wide range of diiferently sizedodisks F I make the saddle E with comparatively long arms'in which a number of apertures e are formed so that the table and grinding tool may be set higher up or lower down by merely removing the trunnion pins 03,03 ad'- justing the saddle piece and again returning-said pins, as will be readily understood from Fig. 1.

I Fig. 6 is a plan view of a lens which afte having been ground may be made to have a curvature inthe direction A, B, as shown in Fig. 7 and a curvature in the direction G, D

as shown in Fig. 8 and all the lenses (in the illustrated example Fig. 1 there are 10) fixed to the disk will have exactly the same curvatures. Should lenses of a difierent curvature be required it Will be necessary to make adjustments of (a) the position of the trunnions (Z, d relatively to the axis of the shaft f or (b) the diameter of the disk F or (c) the saddle piece E relatively to the trunnions d,d and the disk F or any two or more of these according to the particular curvatures required.

It will bev obvious that it may be ofadvantage after grinding one set of lenses to employ a new grinding tool, if the next set is to have a different curvature, rather than allow, the tool to ba -ground to the proper shape. Further it will be understood that my invention is equally adapted for producing concave lenses of double curvature as for producing thevconvex lenses described.

: What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a machine for producing toric lenses,

the combination with a rotatable lens carrier having provision for supporting lenses for movement in a circular path, of a nonrotatable tool carrier pivotally mounted to swing about an axis extending at right an gles to that of the lens carrier, a tool fixedly supported by the tool carrier in position to engage the lens on the lens carrier, and means for oscillating the tool, carrier in such timed relation with the rotation of the lens carrier that movement of the tool across the path of movement of the lens on the lens carrier is varied for successive rotations of the I relatively to its support.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WALTER HOLLANDS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM PARTRIDGE, v

EDWARD R'IGHD. HOLLANDS. 

